A showing of a movie about the participants of the 19 December 2010 events in Minsk took place in Warsaw.

The documentary “Davoli! Da Voli…” was filmed at the order of the Belsat TV channel. The movie tells about the participants of the demonstration against the rigged elections of 19 December 2010. The movie by directors Viachaslau Rakitski and Andrei Kutsila was awarded the audience’s prize as the best documentary at the OFF festival in the Croat city of Opuzen.

After the showing there was a discussion when the participants tried to figure out whether the situation is Belarus was changing and if so, than in what direction.

A coordinator of the European Belarus civic campaign, former political prisoner Dzmitry Bandarenka noted that there will be no square protest in the way it was on 19 December 2010. Also he highlighted the necessity of developing new strategies of how to fight the dictator:

“It is necessary to fight and think of how it is better to oppose the dictatorship. At the same time it is necessary to remember that our strength in that we are using only non-violent resistance”.

As for the real pressure of the EU on the regime, Dzmitry Bandarenka believes that Europe will hardly undertake anything specific in the nearest future:

“The dictatorship has been there in Belarus for a long time and it is a challenge for the European Union. However the EU does not undertake any specific serious steps and will hardly do in the nearest future. It seems to me, that a kind of an informational explosion must happen in order for the European Union to wake up. The EU’s strategy has always rested on building a circle of stability around itself. It was mistaken in the first place. That is why the regimes in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt had been supported for years, the West had cooperated with Miloshevich for many years. And today there is imperceptible support of Europe to the regime of Lukashenka. For example, the trade turnover has doubled in the past two years between Belarus and the EU, including Poland”.

A human rights activist Volga Salamatsina from the Helsinki Committee explained why it is exactly Belarus, but not Russia or Ukraine, where human rights are also violated, is in the constant focus of attention of her organization:

“Belarus is not a member of the Council of Europe and is not accountable to the European Court on Human Rights. Apart from that death penalty is still exercised in Belarus. This is what does not allow us to talk about Belarus as of a civilized country. The very method of execution and cruel treatment of the people convicted to such a measure also cause a protest in the civilized world. By the way, very recently the UN Human Rights Committee made final decision on the case of Uladzislau Kavaliou and acknowledged the fact of violations on the part of Belarusian authorities. Common people live in Belarus with a feeling of injustice and fear of the fact that anything could happen. People have a lot of question piled up and there are no answers to them”.

The palitviazni.info project was the organizer of the movie showing and the discussion.